News and Updates

Friends of LLELA Membership 2025
Become a Friends of LLELA member today for only $25! Your $25 annual membership directly advances the Friends of LLELA’s Mission to support LLELA through hosting community events, funding research and restoration projects, and raising awareness of LLELA as an asset to the community. Join here! Additionally, membership earns you a members-only invitation to


And a River Runs Through LLELA: The metaphors of rivers with David Marquis – Tue, Feb 11
And a River Runs Through LLELA: The metaphors of rivers with David Marquis Friends of LLELA winter meeting Tuesday, February 11, 2025 Doors open for meet & greet 6 pm; Meeting from 6:30 to 8 pm Lewisville Thrive: Dogwood Room 1950 S Valley Pkwy, Lewisville, TX 75067 Free and open to everyone from Lewisville


Eagle Scout project to tackle invasive privet at LLELA on Feb 1 Sat
All are invited to join this Eagle Scout project at LLELA. Reducing privet is the #1 thing we can do to improve wildlife habitat at LLELA. Here’s an article that’s essentially a privet primer and highlights Richard Freiheit’s efforts on privet management at LLELA.


Richard Freiheit: The Driving Force Behind LLELA
The class field trip to the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) is always a highlight of training for the Elm Fork chapter of Texas Master Naturalists, with a tour of the facility including a walk into prairie land that has been in the process of restoration for almost 20 years. Richard Freiheit, Associate Director and Conservation Manager,


Spring Full Circle Trail Run — April 12
LLELA FULL CIRCLE TRAIL RUN Saturday, April 12 from 7:30 to 10 am Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA, lee-lah) 201 E Jones St, Lewisville, TX 75057 This is Friends of LLELA‘s biggest live fundraiser of the year — please join us! Trail runs include 5k, 10k, 13 mi, and 26 mi, plus Youth


Lewisville ISD Plant-a-Thon at LLELA
A terrific Instagram post from Lewisville ISD: In a partnership between Lewisville ISD, the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA), the City of Lewisville, the Army Corps of Engineers and the University of North Texas, 7th grade students in LISD have had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with prairie conservation efforts in our


Just Dig It! Practical Ideas for Adding Native Plants to Your Yard – Jan 18 Sat
Just Dig It! Practical Ideas for Adding Native Plants to Your Yard Saturday January 18, 2025 9 am to 2:30 pm Lewisville Thrive, Dogwood Room 1950 S Valley Pkwy. Lewisville, TX 75067 Keynote Speaker: Noted horticulture author Neil Diboll, owner of Prairie Nursery, consulting ecologist, and author of The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants, will present via Zoom: Prairie Garden Design


LLELA volunteers are the best — our annual appreciation dinner
The annual appreciation dinner in November for LLELA volunteers was a blast. Joining the volunteers were various staff dignitaries, some bearing big news. But first the stats. From Erin Piper, City of Lewisville Outdoor Recreation Supervisor: 84 programs 960 participants 8242 hours of programming interacted, taught, and entertained 1906 children from the age of 18


Elm Fork Texas Master Naturalists Annual New Class Visit to LLELA
The Elm Fork Chapter Texas Master Naturalists’ new 2024 class made their annual field trip to LLELA. Marissa Shaw, Field Trip Coordinator, filed this report: What a wonderful day it was at LLELA yesterday. Our Class of TMN- EFC 2024 were very impressed! Your team pulled together and did a fabulous job of presenting LLELA


Welcome LLELA’s New Interpretative Park Ranger
There’s a new environmental educator at LLELA! And she’s a pelican! Well, maybe not. But interpretative park ranger Addy France is superb at getting kids excited about nature and the pelicans they might see on the Elm Fork. Please welcome Addy, who says “Speak for the trees and bees.” Photo by Sue Yost.